Lee to Portland?????

Man these rumors/speculation are non-stop now. Wonder really what will really happen on draft night.

http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_a...fting_hill_would_mean_knicks_try_to_deal_lee/

 

Unless we're trading Joel, Greg, or LMA, I don't see any reason to pay 8-10 million a year to a backup PF who will play 12 minutes a game.

 

Lee is not going to come here and take on a reserve role. His agent will demand a trade.

That makes me think that if there are really legs to this rumor it's involving more than two teams and we will not end up with Lee.

 

Don't get me wrong, I agree with you. I'm just posting the link since it is Blazer related. Who knows though, maybe we make a play for Lee to swing him on another deal. Then that would make a lot of sense.

 

He would play more then 12 a game.

 

That's more likely than keeping him. We could probably turn around and trade him for Hinrich or something...

 

Please breakdown the minutes for LMA, Oden, Joel, and Lee (by position) for me...

At 9 million a year, he better get close to 30 to have any sort of value.

 

I would love to swing a trade for Lee in the sense of packaging him with say Outlaw and draft picks. That would definitely bring a substantial piece back to Portland.

 

I don't think we could turn around and package him with anything else according to the CBA, but I could be wrong...

 

I thought according to the CBA you had 48 hours to trade someone that you recently acquired. However, now that I think of it, you are not able to package any other pieces in a trade with a recently acquired player. Maybe you can break down the trade though into separate deals if need be. Just a thought.

 

That's true. Lee would solidify our frontline for sure, I'm just not sure that he would like to see his minutes decrease from what he plays now (but as we have seen both Oden and Joel have proven unreliable to stay healthy minus this last year from Joel). We would be the deepest frontcourt team in the NBA and a vet pointguard away from instant championship contender overnight.

 

I think you'd have a hard time convincing Lee of the "injuries happen" argument though, even if I do agree. Maybe he could spend some time at the 3?

 

Also, if we wanted to go real big at times (like for 5-10 minutes a game at most) Lee has shown an ability to play SF in spurts. Think of a lineup of Roy, Lee, Aldridge and Oden (and whoever we get to play point). Long, athletic and powerful. Now get a defensive minded PG/someone who can distribute the ball and look out.

 

In addition, if Portland had Lee, they would probably play Aldridge somewhat fewer minutes to keep him rested throughout the season for the playoffs. When your backup at the position is Frye, you play Aldridge as many minutes as possible. When the backup is a starting-quality player, you can afford to give him more time off.

I'd rather do a consolidation trade and concentrate more talent at the top end...but if that isn't possible, depth can be beneficial in keeping players more rested and healthy.

 

Not only that, but you're going to have a hard time of convincing Paul Allen that he's worth that money banking on injuries. Paul Allen is unlikely to put us up in the 100 million a year salary range again, and we are going to have a ton of key pieces deserving raises in the next 3 years. Right now we have the chance to address majors needs and the PG or SF position, and spending all of our money on Lee doesn't make sense to me.

 

Meh ... I've softened on the David Lee interest. I'm with others that really don't see the sense in paying a guy significant money for a minor backup role. Plus I think Lee is a talented enough guy that he won't accept being a role player for long.

-Pop

 

Lee is looking for 10/per, he'd be the highest paid Blazer.

 

I can guarantee, though, that Lee will NOT be traded to Portland on draft day. It couldn't happen until July 9th at the earliest.